Now that he had Adalasia, just the thought of doing any of those things he had learned to her had his body reacting. Looking at her had his body reacting. Thinking of her, his cock seemed to grow thick and hard and reactionary. That made him want to smile as well. It seemed a lifemate had much more control over him than he had thought possible. He didn’t mind in the least. It made him feel alive. He felt as if every cell in his body had suddenly awakened after a very long slumber.
He touched her hair, that long thick mass she liked to keep in a braid, which he liked to pull out and let loose and free. She gave him a look as if she might protest, but she never did; instead, she laughed. She laughed. He loved that about her. That laugh. The sound was so sweet, and it resonated deep inside him.
Sandu was well aware love started in one’s mind. It stayed there. Good times, bad times, if you wanted that love to remain alive, you had to keep it forever safe in the mind. He’d been alive too long not to have certain knowledge of that. Still, he was Carpathian and he knew about souls. He lifted Adalasia’s much smaller hand and fit it into his palm. She had guarded his soul. She’d been born to guard his soul. She’d been born over and over, and she’d handed his soul to her daughter’s keeping when she gave birth to her. He’d never thought how that would work. How the guardian of his soul would have to be born repeatedly. Her soul. His soul.
Had that left her mother an empty shell? She had her body and heart, but she passed their souls to her daughter at birth. That was why she couldn’t read the tarot cards the way Adalasia could. Not because she hadn’t when she was younger, but because once she gave birth to Adalasia, she’d passed the torch. The cards knew. The goddess card knew. It was heartbreaking.
He knew it wasn’t the same for all lifemates, but in this case, when they were tasked to guard the gate of the demon, the women in the family had lived a very difficult life. He hoped the men they chose to go the rest of their life with them had been good to them. Had loved them and been a good companion to them. Surely the cards would have guided them.
There was a gentle stirring in his mind. A flutter, much like butterfly wings. Sandu? Do you have need of me?
He could hear the drowsy notes in her voice. She was still tired. The soil was rich and had worked to help nurture her, but she could use a little more time in the ground while he hunted. It was just the fact that she reached out to him, feeling his melancholy when he thought of her continuous rebirth and he hadn’t found her fast enough.
Again, he felt that pleasant ache of desire sweep over him, listening to the sound of her voice. There was something about the way she woke so slowly. Not quite awake. Not completely asleep. Drifting. His woman. There was peace. A feeling of being content. He hadn’t realized that would come with having a lifemate.
Sleep, ewal emninumam. I will return soon. I go to feed and bring you back what you need. He stroked caresses through her hair once again. All that thick silk.
Emotions were interesting after not feeling for centuries. At first, he had found feelings overwhelming and difficult to control, so he had pushed them aside and buried them deep. Then he had slowly allowed himself to feel, but at a distance. He realized, when he was making the decisions for the two of them—decisions he knew were necessary for his lifemate to be healthy and stay alive—that she was unhappy and no longer trusted him. She was keeping secrets from him. He had expected her to share all her secrets with him while he withheld information from her. Those emotions allowed him to understand her needs a little better. They were necessary in their relationship. Now, he was grateful for them.
He rose slowly, cleaning and clothing himself in the way of his people. He didn’t cover their resting place, but he did provide a cloak of soil, rich in minerals, to blanket Adalasia’s body. He kept her face free of the soil, so if by chance she should awaken fully, she would not be afraid of being buried alive.
She had practiced over and over opening the earth. That had been her first order of business. She had insisted. More than any other undertaking, she chose to work on that particular task. Sandu knew sleeping in the ground was Adalasia’s greatest fear. She was determined to gain control over those fears by ensuring she could get out of the ground herself. Still, for now, she preferred that he always wake first and have the soil removed for her.
He took his time finding a suitable healthy male in the village. The little community was mostly a fishing hamlet, situated just back from the river. It was small, but the people were more modern, with their nets and the many commodities they traded or sold. Two boats came up the Amazon several times a year and brought tourists with them. Those tourists were a much-needed pouring of wealth into the community when they came into the small town to look at their wares.